


The Restoration

by Scripto (Anchorsville)



Category: The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Denial, Elder Price comes "home" and is comforted by McKinley, Elder Price is obsessed with Orlando, Elder Price is recovering from what the General did to him, F/M, Hurt Elder Price, Internalized Homophobia, Juvenilia, Lowkey spiritual, M/M, McKinley lets all the feelings out, Multi, Never will finish, Past Abuse, Poptarts, Really don't know what warnings to use so read at your own risk, Really don't know where 19 yr old me was going with this but it's not good, They don't get the attention of their mission leaders like in the play, This Is STUPID, Whump, but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-24 21:31:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20021356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anchorsville/pseuds/Scripto
Summary: Elder Price goes back to the district apartment soon after Elder Cunningham had converted the village. His former companion refuses to even acknowledge him after abandoning him and saying that he was stuck with him. So Elder McKinley tires to comfort him, realizing that maybe letting feelings out is better than holding them in. He tries to make his two years with Price the best that they can be.





	The Restoration

The door made a loud thud as Elder Price limped into the district’s apartment building. The Elder’s suit was not only stained, but also torn up. His arms and face were covered in bruises and he held a disgusting, brown bag in one of his hands. His eyes were sternly glued to the floor as he slowly and silently brought himself into his room and slammed the door even harder than the last one. Everyone had seemed to understand that he was not in the talking mood. Even if he was, after his long disappearance, nobody wanted to talk to him, except for Elder McKinley. He wanted to check up on Elder Price and see how he was doing, and not just because he was appointed the district leader for the missionaries in Uganda. A part of him was genuinely worried because of his friend and no amount of trying to ignore his worry seemed to help make it go away. 

Elder McKinley looked back at Cunningham, who was sitting on the couch, with his arms crossed, pretending not to acknowledge who just stepped in. The others sighed and went towards their bedrooms. Poptarts told everyone to have a nice night before following Elder Church to their bedroom. It was late anyways and they all had busy schedules for even more baptisms the next day. It was amazing how Elder Cunningham had singly handily brought an enormous amount of members to join the church. During his entire two months of his mission, Elder McKinley didn’t even meet one person who wanted to become a member. The changes that Elder Cunningham had brought were nothing short of a miracle and none of the Elders could figure out what he did that brought so many new members.

McKinley and Cunningham were the two last in the living room. They sat across from each other. “What?” Elder Cunningham snapped at the other missionary. “I’m not going to sleep in there...with him. He left me when I needed him most. I broke a rule for him and he still didn’t want me around.” He seemed more than flustered and the last thing that McKinley wanted to see was Cunningham and Price arguing in front of people they're supposed to teach.

The room was filled with silence as the two waited for the other to speak. It took McKinley a little before he decided to break the silence. “I’ll switch you rooms tonight,” the district leader muttered softly. He was already aware of how his friend felt about his companion walking out on him. “Goodnight,” he said as he left the room.

As he opened the door, he saw Elder Price, slummed on his bed, covered in blankets. His clothes were left carelessly on the floor. His hands covered his face as he made strange, muffled noises. He was definitely crying, but he was trying to stay quiet about it. He probably didn’t notice McKinley’s silent entrance. Yet, the adjacent bed creaked, and alerted Price of his presence when he sat down. The Elder’s hands dropped to his side and sorrowfully looked at the man on the bed beside his. He didn’t say a word, but his pained, tearful eyes said enough. McKinley was going to tell the Elder to just turn off his feelings, to ignore and pretend whatever was bothering him wasn’t, but something was different. He felt his own heart ache as he watched his fellow Elder break down and cry. Being told to pretend he was happy would’ve been a terrible idea. The district leader nearly began crying himself looking at the beaten, pretty face in front of him.

“Elder Price, are you...okay?” The last thing McKinley knew how to do was help comfort someone. He didn’t even know how to comfort himself, other than to bottle everything up and pretend as if it wasn’t there. Taking the time to talk about it seemed more uncomfortable than anything else.

The disgruntled Elder groaned to himself as he turned away. He slowly composed himself and dried the tears off of his face. “I tried to share The Book of Mormon with the General and it didn’t go exactly as I planned.”

“...and he hurt you?” The answer was obvious, yet the question slipped out.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he kept his back towards McKinley as he began to sniffle again.

“You can always talk to me.” The Elder didn't mean to say something so generic, but he was at a complete loss of words."

“...and you’ll just tell me to turn it off,” the young man sneered back.

McKinley sighed. “Maybe I gave the wrong advice. Clearly, you can’t just switch this off.” He paused. “If I’m being honest, there’s a lot about me that I haven’t been able to switch off.”

“...like what?”

Everything about this was uncomfortable. The Elder tightly grabbed his own wrists and looked down at the floor. “I still have thoughts about other men,” he finally confessed. There was another part that he wanted to say, but he felt like Price somehow knew. "It's not that I don't try, but I just..."

The Elder turned around and gave his friend a forced, yet reassuring smile. “I’m glad you’re finally beginning to realize you have to accept yourself.” The grin on his face didn’t last very long as his eyes began to water again. Maybe there was something that he hadn't accepted about himself. It didn't seem like he was willing to open up about it. He was tired, worn out, and overall just beat.

The two Elders weren’t up very much longer, they both were tired and knew they had a long day ahead of them. McKinley neatly undressed his suit, placing it on a night stand. He went to collect Price’s things, but saw the same, gross bag he saw the Elder carry in earlier. It was probably for the best that he didn’t touch that. He laid down in the bed beside his friend’s, wearing nothing but his temple garments.

The next morning, McKinley woke up to see the adorable Elder next to him, still fast asleep. He couldn't help by silently admire how cute Elder Price looked when he was asleep. Wait, those were the thoughts he was trying to push down. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, they were there. Trying not to dwell on it, the least the district leader could do was bring breakfast to his friend in bed. He didn't mind that Elder Price was behind schedule. Elder McKinley walked out to the kitchen, where Poptarts was already fixing himself and his companion a meal. “Good morning,” He greeted the district leader before taking a bite out of a poptart that popped straight out of the toaster. He accidentally burnt his tongue.

“Good morning,” McKinley responded to Elder Thomas as he opened the fridge. They were out of food, again. Of course, there were always poptarts since a certain Elder would always buy them in bulk. Elder McKinley decided to make a batch for his friend. Elder Church didn’t have much to say, he was far too busy studying scripture and nobody wanted to interrupt him. The district leader went back to Elder Price and placed a plate with poptarts on his lap. Finally, sleeping beauty decided to wake up; better late than never. 

“Morning,” Elder Price still seemed bent out of shape as he began to eat his breakfast. “I’m guessing we have a long day ahead of us.” He paused. “...or Elder Cunningham and I have a long day ahead of us.” It was impossible not to notice his gorgeous brown eyes. Again, those were the thoughts McKinley knew he had to get rid of. Perhaps being around the cutest Elder in the district was a bad idea, but it wasn't as if he had much of a choice.

Elder McKinley knew Cunningham was still hurt when his companion walked out on him. There was no way that he would agree to be around Elder Price, or at least anytime soon. “I was thinking maybe you and I could team up,” McKinley explained, trying not to seem too eager. “I don’t think Elder Cunningham is really ready to teach beside you right now.” 

“He hasn’t been teaching on his own, has he?” Elder Price questioned, with genuine concern.

“Well, he has, but because of him, many Africans want to be baptized!”

“...because of Elder Cunningham?”

Elder McKinley nodded, yet his temporary companion-for-the-day still seemed shocked. “I don’t know how he does it, but he’s made so many of the villagers ask us to baptize them. In fact, that’s pretty much all we’ll be doing today.” He checked his notebook, filled with times and appointments, and he was correct. The two Elders went out to baptize many villagers. McKinley was careful to make sure that Price didn’t cross Cunningham’s path. The last thing he wanted was for them to make a scene. The day went by alright, although Elder Price didn’t seem to be cheered up. He looked a little angry, even jealous. His unhappy demeanor was gradually bringing Elder McKinley down.

When they finally got a break, they went back to their apartment to eat a quick lunch. Unfortunately, there was nothing to eat, but more poptarts. Surprisingly, nobody was complaining yet. Although, food seemed like the least of their worries in Uganda. Elder McKinley was quick to spray more bug spray on himself, it never felt like he had enough on him.

“Is something wrong?” Elder McKinley muttered, still trying to adapt to the fact that he told Elder Price not to suppress his feelings. He didn’t know why, but he really wanted to see his companion happy, and not just a fake, hide-your-pain kind of happy. He wanted to see the Elder smile out of joy.

Elder Price was caught off guard as he tolerated his second batch of poptarts for the day. “I just don’t see how Elder Cunningham- of all people- was the one to make this happen,” he growled under his breath. “I came here to do something incredible, but when I tried to, I…” He stopped. “This is not what I wanted to do, or even where I wanted to go, for my mission.”

“Isn’t bringing souls closer to Christ by baptizing them incredible enough for you?” McKinley sneered back. He didn’t mean to come off as aggressive, but he could tell by the look on his fellow Elder’s face that he had hurt some feelings. Maybe telling Elder Price to let his feelings out was a mistake.

“I wanted to change the world.”

The district leader couldn’t help but roll his eyes at what he was hearing. “Elder Price, considering the people you’re helping.” He paused, thinking of how he could speak carefully, without burning any bridges. “Sometimes, you have to start small. I mean, before Elder Cunningham, we couldn’t get a single person here baptized.”

“I wanted to be the one who made that difference.”

“Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, but you didn’t! Sitting around, whining and throwing a temper tantrum will get you nowhere,” Elder McKinley blurted out, shouting and completely embarrassing his temporary companion. He didn’t mean to raise his voice, or lose his temper with his friend. “I’m sorry-”

“No, you’re right.” The Elder let out a long, painful sigh. “I guess...I guess I’ve let my ego get out of control. I mean, I really wish I could be in Orlando right now.”

“Orlando-?”

Price had a sly smile on his face. It looked like he was ready to start daydreaming at any moment. “I would do anything to go back to Orlando.”

“Let’s get through these two years,” McKinley reassured him. “Then, you can go to Orlando.” He stopped for a second. “Maybe the two of us could go to Orlando...together.” Oh God, he made it obvious. He nervously waited for his companion’s reaction, but he knew he had said too much.

“Of course you could go to Disney World with me,” Elder Price had a huge smirk on his face and a complete change in attitude. He spent the rest of the day talking his companion’s ear off about his childhood memories of Orlando and why he loved it so much. The man was obsessed. Elder McKinley didn’t mind hearing all of it. He was just glad to see Elder Price was finally cheering up. The rest of the day flew by, with Elder Price in a good mood, things finally went by smoothly. It was a massive difference from the morning.

When they went back to the apartments to get ready to go to bed, it finally happened. Both Elder Price and Elder Cunningham were in the same room. McKinley waited for one to speak to the other, but Elder Price simply stormed back into his room. No apologies were exchanged, not even glances. All the missionaries in the apartment felt completely uncomfortable. The uneasy vibes in the room slowly left after Price did. Elder Cunningham had a look on his face, as if something was on his mind, but he didn't speak. Elder McKinley didn't have the willpower to ask, but he did have plenty of guesses.

“Hey, Poptarts, can you go out and get us something other than poptarts?” Elder Church asked as he relaxed on the couch, completely ignoring the divide between Price and Cunningham. "I'm kind-of getting tired of eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

“It’s too late to leave now, besides, isn't tomorrow fast Sunday?"

“I’m talking about on P-day.”

“Sure, what would you all like?” 

Elder McKinley slowly and quietly sneaked out of the room and into Price’s bedroom. He blushed as he saw the Elder’s bare bottom, changing temple garments. It was a view that he knew he wasn't meant to see. He knew he should've looked away, but as he saw Price bend as he removed his garments, McKinley froze in place. After he saw the Elder pull up his clean garments, he coughed, letting Price know he was in the room, but the Elder didn’t seem to care. Instead, he just smiled and talked a little bit more about Disney World. Elder McKinley was far too flustered to talk about Orlando. Anyways, there were more important things that needed settled.

“Why don’t you apologize to Elder Cunningham?” McKinley eventually asked him as the two of them got ready to sleep. “Things don’t need to be as awkward as they are.”

“Goodnight,” Elder Price turned his back to the district leader, completely ignoring what he had to say.


End file.
